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So it’s already come to that point where I have outgrown the freebie wordpress and well, I decided to get full hosting via go daddy! Woot woot! But unfortunately that means that all of you fine folk that are following me here, will need to (pretty pretty please) follow me over there. I thought it would be the best decision considering having your own .com makes thing a bit more official.

I really hope to see you at… www.lyraparish.com.
I will probably be closing this one down in a few weeks, just so we are all partying in the same place.

I wanted to write this while the endorphins are still flowing through my veins. Just an hour ago, I finished the first draft of Weak for Him! OMG OMG OMG OMG! ::insert crazy squee sounds here::

I’ve been plugging away at this for about 3 months and finally, tonight, I wrote those last words : the end.

I had to tuck my bottom lip in, hold back tears, and sigh deeply as to not bust out in tears. (I am an ugly crier and people were around!) The only other time that I had felt like this was whenever I finished a long bike ride, and people cheered me on as I crossed the finished line. Every night that I had stayed up late, every day that I didn’t feel like writing, various notebooks, sticky notes, lessons learned, chatting with all my facebook friends (love y’all), and everything else I went through was entirely worth it. When I wrote those two final words, I knew that I had broken the statistics.

I know that this whole process isn’t really over yet. I still have to do an initial read through, send to my critique partner, send to my 3 betas, send to the editor, all while doing rewrites but it’s still something to celebrate!

I used to run religiously a few years ago. When I first started training, it was odd, because I found myself hitting mental blocks through my long runs. I wasn’t physically exhausted, but there were times when I had to fight myself all the way to the finish line. Not a force, but more of running through quicksand. My body was fine, but my mind wasn’t in the game but I was determined. Determined to keep fighting, to keep training, to keep moving, until I finished.

There are times when I feel the same way about writing. There are some days when it is smooth sailing and I can push out 6k words, no problem. Other days, I struggle to write 100 before I hit the mental wall. I feel every writer goes through this but I can’t force myself to write whenever my heart isn’t in it. So the past week and a half, I took a mini-vaca and gave my mind time to relax and re-cooperate from working a day job, and two small odd literary jobs. My love is writing, my passion is writing, and although I may hit mental walls, I will break through them. I will write through them.

On another note…. I really love the way that Weak for Him is coming together. I am halfway through with draft 1 and next week I am dedicating all of my extra time towards finishing draft 1. I am determined and I can’t really think about anything more. I will let it sit for a week, throw it into grammarly, pre-edit, and then my goal is to send it to an editor and have it returned by the week of Thanksgiving. 🙂 I hope to have my arcs ready before Christmas and want to hit that shiny green publish button on January 15th! Starting the new year off on a good foot!

Just checking goodreads not too long ago, already have almost 200 TBR! How cool is that?

It seems the literary world went wild while I was on vacation and had a lot of catching up to do once I returned! Seriously. I found out that Charlie will no longer be playing Christian Grey and that the indie erotica authors (my buds, represent!) are livid and disgusted with Amazon, Kobo, and Barnes.

The witch hunt has begun and it took days of reading countless blogs and news updates, along with facebook feeds, to finally understand what exactly is going on and it worries me. It worries me because I feel like indie authors are being attacked. Erotica is not inappropriate! Just because an author has the word sister, brother, and sex in a blurb, doesn’t mean they are all doing it together.

Image from FTFR.ORG

Many authors (many who are my friends) livelihoods are based from their book sales, books that were removed for no reason. I understand that some novels that are published are inappropriate to some, depending on who you are, but that doesn’t mean it should be removed. I think the readers should be able to decide what they want to read, based on whether they purchase or not. Silencing writers (especially indie and small publishers) will only hurt the big brother book corporations. They will find another way to release their works. I wouldn’t be surprised if an online book supplier popped up and allowed anyone and everyone to publish, will not ban books in the disclaimer. There currently seems to be a need for a site that is based from NOT silencing. If I had a million dollars, and a few developers in my pocket, I would create one in a heart beat!

All of the hoo-ha also worries me because Weak for Him could be considered contemporary erotica. Will the novel that I have been working on for months and months be removed once it is published? Will I even stand a chance or survive the indie author attacks? I honestly don’t know. All I can do is keep writing and take my chance. The indie scene is currently in an uproar and I feel that this isn’t the end.

Hope everyone’s labor day weekend was safe and full of yummy bbq! My day was great, went shopping, biking, and even bought a few bottles of wine from a Texas Winery that is only a few hours away. It was a great day to be out and about. Plus the weather was nice, hot, but nice! Blue skies, fluffy clouds, and an unlimited amount of things to do!

I cannot believe it is September. Fall is my favorite season. The way the air feels in my face, crispy leaves, pumpkins, ahhhhhh… love the fall!

Also, I’ve decided that at the beginning of each month, I am going to write 3 things I want to accomplish so I can better keep up with my short-term goals.

1. Hit the halfway mark for Trapped by the Night
2. Commission a professional cover artist
3. Write at least 12 blog posts

Before I forget, thanks to everyone who has followed me so far. It’s nice to know that someone cares. As you know, I am very new to being active on social media, so it’s a good feeling whenever I see people are actually paying attention to what I am saying so thank you! 🙂